Ajay Aggarwal, Clinical Director of the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre (NATCAN) and Consultant Clinical Oncologist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, shared Miet Vandemaele‘s post on LinkedIn adding:
“If you are interested in ensuring access to high quality radiotherapy see below the work of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology value based radiotherapy project.
Defining an evidence standard for adoption of new technology remains a major challenge because of the many different types of innovations from new immobilisation masks to protons: we’ve created a 4 tier categorisation system for radiotherapy innovation such that each tier is characterised by similarities with respect to the level of evidence and end points needed as part of their robust evaluation in studies.
Coming soon will be our consensus around minimum evidence standards for each category.”
Miet Vandemaele, Radiation Oncology Resident at Gent University Hospital, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Two papers from the Value-based radiation oncology project have just been published back-to-back in the Green journal / Radiotherapy and Oncology!
What kind of evidence supports radiotherapy innovations?
Our bibliometric analysis of >3,700 papers mapped the methodologies and endpoints used in radiotherapy clinical research.
The findings highlight the diversity of evidence and endpoints in radiotherapy appraisal, showing that a “one-size-fits-all” appraisal doesn’t work for radiotherapy.”
Title: Outcomes and level of evidence in radiation therapy research and different categories of radiotherapy innovations: an ESTRO-VBRO bibliometrics analysis of the literature
Authors: M. Vandemaele, G. Lewison, H. Martinussen, J.M. Borràs, M. Leech, M. Aznar, P. Blanchard, Y. Lievens, A. Aggarwal
Read the Full Article on Green journal / Radiotherapy and Oncology
“How can we ensure fair appraisal of radiotherapy innovations?
We developed a categorisation system for radiotherapy innovations – a key step toward building an appraisal framework that identifies high-value innovations to support their clinical implementation and reimbursement.
the four categories are:
- Drug-centred: combining drug therapies and radiation to achieve better biological effectiveness.
- Radiation-centred: optimising therapeutic ratio through biological or dosimetric properties, for example: hypofractionation or proton therapy.
- Radiation-enabling: improving accuracy, precision or experience of patients, for example surface guidance or rectal spacers
- Operational: optimising operational workflow and efficiency, for example AI-based contouring.
Title: Building an appraisal framework for radiotherapy innovations in a value-based context: The ESTRO-Value-based radiation oncology categorisation system
Authors: M. Vandemaele, P. Blanchard, J.M. Borràs, M. Leech, M. Aznar, A. Aggarwal, Y. Lievens
Read the Full Article on Green journal / Radiotherapy and Oncology
“So what’s next?
For each innovation category, we’re defining the essential level of evidence and endpoints needed to support their clinical adoption or to justify reimbursement. Stay tuned and follow the VBRO project as we continue shaping a value-based appraisal framework for radiotherapy innovations.
Please read, share, and let us know your thoughts on value-based radiation oncology – and help us to ensure timely access to innovations for patients!
A huge thanks to everyone involved in the project, in particular to the ESTRO-VBRO chairs Ajay Aggarwal and Yolande Lievens, and all co-authors Marianne Aznar, Michelle Leech, Pierre Blanchard, Josep Maria Borràs, Grant Lewison, Hanneke Martinussen.”
More posts featuring Ajay Aggarwal.